Professional Forumla 1 racer Romain Grosjean founded his own sim racing organization R8G Sim Racing Team. At Nurburgring 24H, the debut already bore first fruits.
While the F1 tracks are still empty, more and more fans and drivers turn towards virtual racing. With Romain Grosjean, another well-known face joins the ring. The driver has started in more than 160 F1 GPs and collected several championship titles. He now takes on a new challenge and revealed his ambitious goals with his organization. The team will be competing in different platforms and features six pro racers.
Grosjean partnered up with Triple A e-Sports for his project R8G. The agency is a subsidiary from 3a-Sports and its esports division specializes on esports racing. Former Grand Prix champion Olivier Panis, as well as sim racing expert Stéphane Koch are part of the agency’s management. The team is also supported by various brands such as Predator, Praga, and Richard Mille.
Home for six pro racers
The official homepage of R8G has six players slots open at the moment. Four of the seats are already taken, but two more players are about to be revealed soon. The first permanent member that has been announced by now is 18-year-old Thibault Cazaubon. Despite his young age, the racer has established his reputation in the scene. The French driver claimed the trophy at the French iRacing GT Champion and already qualified for the 2020 Porsche Esports Supercup. From now on, the new blood will compete under the banner of R8G.
Thibault was joined by three top racers from R8G’s partner Triple A at Nurburgring: Daniel Lafuente, Andre Martins and Marin Čolak. Spanish driver Lafuente has competed in sim racing for three years and successfully made it to the 2019 iRacing GT World Championhip. His team-mate Marin Čolak from Croatia previously was part of Orion Race Team and Esta Racing team until switching to Triple A in March. Portugese racer André Martins joined AAA in December 2019.
R8G gives successful debut
The first event the brand new organsiation R8G participated in was iRacing Nurburgring 24H Powered by VCO last weekend. R8G competed in the Porsche Cup category and had quite an impressive start at the tournament, securing second place in the end.
Thibeau and his team-mates were able to establish a lead into the night phase. However, they could not maintain their advantage after the team’s Porsche 911 GT3 collided with a competitor whose vehicle veered out of control.
Efforts to repair the car were not quite sufficient and the team had to continue the race with limited performance. Nontheless, R8G still managed to get to the podium and reach a stellar second place in the end.
Founder and patron of the team, Romain Grosjean, is proud of his drivers as he revealed in an official press release:
For our first race, we have shown that we were ready, with a prepared team and a strong driver line-up. I can’t wait for our next race and more success.
Which Formula 1 driver do you want to see building a simracing team as well?
Source: Press release Romain Grosjean